When people tell me I'm overreacting to the threat posed by our lack of regulations on motor vehicle size
@DrTCombs
That's obscene! Most midsize EVs are built like tractors. The only exception is the Kia EV6 -that's why we bought it.
@DrTCombs We do have huge cars in Germany too, but that's completely insane. 😳
@SpookieRobieTheCat @DrTCombs And they sell, which tells us what?
@DrTCombs how's a wheelchair supposed to get around that
@morb_au I asked the same question of the property management company (it was their truck) and they responded that "it was important business; surely you understand"
@DrTCombs it's not like the street was narrow... and the more I look at it ... pointing the wrong way
I'm glad to live in Europe, where only a view tanks like this one are on our streets. And you would never ever find a parking space for it here, neither at the streets nor in any parkade at all.
@DrTCombs Insanity. And it is parked half on the footpath. Is that legal there?
@TomRaftery nope!
@DrTCombs 🙄
That's a huge issue for folks who are disabled
@DrTCombs Tax those grocery getters.
@DrTCombs I'd like to expand on this. I think that a tax in some form, whether it be insurance rates or an actual tax, should be placed on high displacement vehicles. Obviously there would be exemptions for farm and commercial use. I'm not in favor of bans but a punitive levy is more the way to go. If you want one of these vehicle's you can still have one, but you're going to pay.
@DrTCombs Wait, there are children on the street?
😮☹️
@DrTCombs Pff spot on. Somehow these kind of pictures touch the heart, where I am usually looking for charts & data. I guess a combination of both is ideal. This makes you realise how ridiculous the current situation sometimes is, data shows how much of a difference different policies would make.
Handbook on the external costs of transport: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/9781f65f-8448-11ea-bf12-01aa75ed71a1
@DrTCombs In Europe, such regulations aren't really necessary, because huge cars like that simply can't get around or find a suitable parking spot in cities here. So some people do buy things like Hummers, but they're exceptions, because cars that size are totally useless here.
@FinalKiwi @DrTCombs Well, I agree with you there. But I doubt they could grow to be the monsters you see in the US given that those monsters would simply not fit on our roads and parking lots. :) But yeah, maybe EU regulation would be a good thing. And I think EU legislation around limitations on vehicle weight are in the making.
@DrTCombs There are regulations for what can be seen in the rear view mirror.
There should be visibility regulations for forward viewing as well.
@DrTCombs that car size is necessary so the driver has a valid reason to say "i really didn't see the girl, she should have been more careful and wear perfectly visible colors". Unless somebody has an actual valid reason why cars need to be bigger...
@DrTCombs Looks like - Make America great again…
@DrTCombs
Maar oh, die vreselijke elektrische steps en skateboards
@DrTCombs This is ridiculous.
@DrTCombs ... And the people who get all self-righteous about their right to have giant mobile murder machines are often the same people who insist on the right to carry an AR-15 everywhere they go.
@DrTCombs not interested in seeing the future generations that will bear the brunt of our unnecessary gas guzzling.
@DrTCombs maybe not the most important aspect, but the head-light is right were the head is. This likely means they are blinding and makes passing this vehicle in the dark more dangerous
@DrTCombs I don't know. Is there data that shows large vehicles are more a threat than any other vehicle? I say this, because I can see the push back: "There is more danger in a smaller and faster vehicle. A teenager in a loud Honda Civic is far more dangerous than an adult in a less agile behemoth".
@tkenben I don't believe I've ever encountered this pushback, and I work in this space every day. There's definitely evidence that large passenger vehicles, esp. trucks and SUVs, are involved in far more fatal crashes than smaller vehicles. But logic also helps...
@tkenben Large vehicles make it less likely a driver will see a pedestrian, because of their height. They make it less likely a driver will be able to stop or swerve to avoid a pedestrian, because of their mass. They make it more likely a pedestrian they hit will be killed, because of their kinetic energy and because the tall grille pushes pedestrians' bodies under the vehicle, rather than over the top.
@tkenben I much prefer my daughter's chances with a teenager in a loud honda civic than a distracted soccer mom in a ford expedition.
@DrTCombs They might agree with the tall grill argument, but not the momentum/kinetic energy, because high mass also make it harder to accelerate (and KE is prop to V^2). But with the tall grill, we must then thumbs down public transportation as it stands. Or is the tradeoff different there?
@tkenben slow to accelerate means slow to decelerate as well, but acceleration is a strawman because (a) F150s are not running the same size engines as accords; today's SUVs and pickup trucks have more than enough torque to accelerate as quickly as most passenger cars, and (b) acceleration is only a small part of operating a vehicle
@tkenben I've truly never heard these arguments in good faith before. They are strawmen.
@DrTCombs Yes, I am playing devils' advocate, perhaps foolishly. I brought up velocity, because their argument would be that mass doesn't really matter once a vehicle is up to speed. I disagree myself. Personally, I don't have a big opinion because my instinct tells me that large vehicles don't contribute to the majority of fatalities or injuries *because* they are large. Vehicles are dangerous to being with. I would have to see the data to be convinced of a direct correlation.
@tkenben You may think you are playing devil's advocate here, but you are also discounting the expertise of a female academic with decades of experience, demanding a personalized explanation by presenting absurd counterarguments that hold no water among people who work in this field, and insisting on seeing the data yourself.
Fine. Here's the data: https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars
@DrTCombs I am just being wary. Maybe a bit juvenile, and I apologize. But the picture tugged the wrong strings for me, as it screamed sensationalistic journalism.
@DrTCombs Thank you very much! This speaks to me much more loudly than a picture of a small girl in front of a looming grill.
@piemanmastodon @DrTCombs Right on both accounts. The argument would have been that since mass greatly prohibits acceleration that would overall counteract the lack of agility. But, it's moot. A car is dangerous regardless of how big it is, a less agile one more so.
@Kyleric @DrTCombs I still end up thinking the actual momentum and kinetic energy ends up being moot if the speed is more than a few miles an hour. The big thing then is maneuverability. The argument for anti high grill of course is that a lower speed injury can be more dangerous because of impact location.
@tkenben @DrTCombs Even if they banned the high grill design, heavier cars are still going to collide with more force at the same speed, which in the 20- 50mph range is going to mean a higher chance of death. Above 50 and below 20 you might be right and it will matter less, but there are a lot of crashes happening in that 20-50 mph range.
@Kyleric @DrTCombs They don't collide with more force. They have more momentum, yes, but that doesn't really matter because the mass difference is too lopsided to begin with. If you are talking two vehicles of comparable mass then it becomes very important. But with a car versus a pedestrian... the car doesn't slow down enough no matter the size. What matters then is how much energy is absorbed by any structural deformation.
@DrTCombs We used to use trucks for transporting goods, not for private traffic….
I think on this whenever I'm driving on a particularly narrow bridge.
Unfortunately, it's gotten to the point where it's hard to even find a sane-sized pickup to buy anymore.
@BobCollins very true indeed.
@DrTCombs Well, that’s going to appeal to some seriously inadequate red necks…🙄
@DrTCombs I'm 6'2" and have stood in front of trucks like this and even I feel unsafe. Drivers on these trucks truly cannot see what's in front. It's a horrible design and should not be allowed. Otherwise they need to have similar mirrors to busses and large commercial trucks so they can see in front.
@DrTCombs My European friends and I have discussed the concerning size of our vehicles more than a few times.
@DrTCombs I can see why https://www.tyreextinguishers.com/how-to-deflate-an-suv-tyre is a thing
@DrTCombs one weird thing about people driving cars is that everybody gets really freaked out when a kid runs towards a road
but no one seems to consider that when they get into a car *they* are the danger
This toot is a re-toot from my previous instance, which served me well https://mastodon.social/@DrTCombs/109366078362531179